Eagles Postgame Report: Birds Do Nothing In Second Half, Lose To 49ers In Wild Card Round

The Eagles made a strong play to start the game, but then Quinyon Mitchell promptly gave up a 61-yard reception on the second play from scrimmage then Dean gave up an 11-yard pass to immediately put the Eagles on the ropes. The he failed to cover in the endzone for a two-yard reception. The 49ers scored a quick touchdown with 60 of their 74 yards coming from throwing right at the All-Pro corner who recorded only 1 tackle on those passes right at him.

Saquon broke off a 29-yard run on the edge to get the chains moving before a 10-yard pass to Brown kept that trend going into the red zone. Barkley reversed field to setup first and goal before he took it to the 1-yard line and they handed it to Goedert on a sweep to answer with their own touchdown. Jake Elliott missed the extra point to ensure that the Birds were still losing the game.

The Eagles defense forced a three-and out, but the Eagles managed only 20 yards before the Birds sent the worst blocker the league has seen in years (Grant Calcaterra) to block on 3rd and 2 and he sidestepped around the guy he was supposed to block. That ended up setting up a 4th and 2 that failed for a turnover on downs at the SF48. The defense managed a three-and-out, but that led to a loss on the field position battle as the Eagles got pinned at their own 6-yard line.

After 28 yards gained, the Eagles called two horrible plays and false started before DeVonta Smith got 14.5 yards on 3rd and 15. From their own 44, they ran a tush push to move the chains again. With heavy pressure breaking through, Hurts screened it to Barkley who ran for 20 yards. On 4th and 2 from the nine-yard line, Hurts hit Goedert for the touchdown to take the lead.

George Kittle was carted off the field, but DeJean was burned on the next play for 45 yards before the Eagles defense forced a field goal attempt with 2:50 to go in the half. The Eagles took a penalty to wipe away the Barkley run and then the Eagles threw deep to AJ Brown twice, where he dropped both to force the three-and-out. That gave the 49ers a chance to score before the half, but they had to use their final timeout due to a formation problem before Purdy fumbled the ball (caused by Quinyon Mitchell) out of bounds to end the half and keep the Eagles at a three-point lead.

An eight yard run started off the first half before the Eagle promptly punted away three plays later with a 58-yard punt to pin San Francisco deep. The 49ers moved 40 yards before Quinyon Mitchell stopped them with an interception. The two teams then traded three-and-outs before the Eagles offense added a field goal off of 23 yards following a bad punt.

The 49ers responded with a 27-yard pass that was allowed by no one on the defense being within 20 yards of Juszczyk. Then they gave up a trick play 29-yard touchdown pass from Jennings to McCaffrey, who also wasn’t covered at all, to hand the lead back to San Francisco.

The Eagles wasted an 11-yard run being called for another penalty and then punted the ball back again. Juszczyk went uncovered again for a first down before Mitchell recorded his second interception to get the ball back for the Birds. Barkley took it 8 yards before Hurts took it 3 and got a personal foul (the first penalty on SF all day) before Barkley took two more runs for 14 yards to move the chains again. Barkley leaving ended the drive following a failed deep shot to Dotson helped bring up a 4th and 4. Elliott came in and kicked a 33-yard field goal to re-take the lead for the Eagles with 8 minutes left in the game.

On 2nd and 5, the Eagles missed the sack (in part thanks to uncalled holds) and instead allowed Purdy to run 5 yards to move the chains. Then they gave up a 16-yard reception, were gashed by an 11-yarder, had a defensive hold in the secondary called while the refs ignored the 3 holds that still failed to stop the sack, then they gave up a 10-yard run to setup the 49ers with goal to go. Trent Williams then held Nolan Smith in the most blatant fashion possible for an entire play right next to the QB and the refs must have missed that that was the only reason that it wasn’t a sack and was instead called a clean touchdown pass to give the 49ers the lead.

The ball went to Brown on 3rd and 5 for a 15 yard gain and he dropped it again. On 4th down, Goedert actually caught the pass that was right there to move them up 15 yards. That brought up 1st and 10 from the SF 45 at the 2-minute warning. Two passes to Smith gained 25 yards before Hurts took a sack and then rolled out for unknown reasons to throw an incompletion. Thrown a bit too high, Smith dropped a ball that would have moved the chains to bring up 4th and 11 before the Eagles burned a timeout because they couldn’t call a play.

Hurts threw it over the middle into triple coverage where the ball had no chance of actually getting to Goedert to turn it over on downs and lose the game, ending the Eagles’ season.

Offensive MVP: DeVonta Smith

This award goes to the receiver who isn’t the diva that threw the game away. Smith, unlike another high-paid receiver, actually made catches and moved the chains. He had a team-leading 70 yards on eight receptions and, had he gotten the deep targets that AJ Brown got and dropped, the Birds might have come away with a win.

Defensive MVP: Quinyon Mitchell

There seemed to be no chance Mitchell would be the defensive MVP following his first drive, but he’s the one who came up with both of the interceptions, the game’s only two turnovers, to give the Eagles a chance. At least one of those probably took points off the board and the same could be said from his forcing a fumble before the half to prevent a field goal attempt.

Game Notes

• The corner play against the Commanders was absolute trash – and that would have been better than what the Eagles got from Quinyon Mitchell on the first drive of the game. At least committing penalties prevents a catch and YAC, unlike Mitchell just handing away 71 yards and a touchdown off the bat.
• Bigsby was again effective in this game spelling Barkley. It’s honestly surprising the team doesn’t use 21 personnel instead of the god-awful 12 and 13 personnel that left the Eagles averaging less than 3 yards per carry but was still used just to get he and Barkley both on the field instead of some incompetent tight end.
• Related to the tight ends, the Eagles continued to rely on Grant Calcaterra which was an active hinderance of the Eagles. Frankly, had Calcaterra needed to be placed on IR from the injury on the hip-drop tackle last week, there’s a real argument that the Eagles offense would have been better by default simply because they would not have been able to put in a guy who actively dragged the offense down on most plays he was in on.
• Jake Elliott is really digging his own grave this season. He connected on two field goals, but the only reason the Eagles were ever down after the first drive of the game was because he couldn’t complete a simple extra point kick and missed it to put the Eagles in a permanent “less than a score” up situation even when they were ahead. The team could have kicked a field goal for the tie instead of going for it on 4th and 11 if he didn’t suck at his job.
• AJ Brown is in the dog house. Three drops in this one, amounting to close to 100 yards that ended numerous drives. It was pathetic in a playoff game from a “WR1” who only added 25 yards.
• It was a strong performance by Hurts up until the final three plays of the game, where he had a poor sack because he waited to long to run for the 1st, threw the ball away after rolling out for no reason, then threw too high to Smith and into triple coverage for unknown reasons. Up to that point he was damn near perfect with 168 yards, no sacks, no balls put in danger, and he should have had a ton more yards with three beautiful balls to Brown for 15+ yards each all dropped but where they needed to be.
• The 49ers held all game but were called for it 0 times. The Eagles were called for holds 3+ times and none were as blatant as the several resulting in big plays for the 49ers.
• Absolute screw job by the refs in this one, who called 1 penalty on the 49ers the whole game and that was probably a BS on in itself. The Eagles were called for 7, at least half of which were less impactful or blatant than what the 49ers got away with routinely. Despite that, the Eagles offense should have been able to win the game if their offensive staff didn’t have the IQ of a rock.

Injury Notes

• On the second play for the offense, Fred Johnson was slow to get up and replaced by Matt Pryor at right tackle. He did return later on during the drive.
• DeVonta Smith came up limping in the second quarter, but didn’t miss a snap.
• Jordan Davis came up limping in the early fourth quarter.
• Barkley came up limping and exited in the fourth quarter. He did return.

San Francisco 49ers @ Philadelphia Eagles – January 11, 2026